America

Today, after we packed up and left our hotel, I was hoping we'd be able to drive to a good spot to take a photo of the Hollywood sign. Unfortunately we left too late (and stopped at Victorias Secret) and it took us at least 3hrs to get our rental car back, and we were even 30mins late.

At LAX airport we hung out for 5hrs waiting for our 11pm flight home. It was sad to be leaving and kinda exciting to be coming home and see everyone. We definately love America and will definately come back soon.

What an awesome trip.

I love Rowan!

Yesterday we went to Universal Studios. It reminded me a lot of MovieWorld on the Gold Coast, but Universal Studios had a lot more going for it. The coolest thing to see was definately the plane crash set from War of the Worlds. We got to see a lot of different shows; WaterWorld, Animal Actors, Terminator2 and BackDraft. They were all really good.
The Mummy ride and Jurassic Park ride were the funnest. Rowan and I were the only two people on the carriage when we went on The Mummy ride. It was Rowans first backwards ride too. So funny.
The Back to the Future ride wasn't so great, we're over the "movie projector make it look like we're moving when really we're in the same spot just being shaken about" rides.

Today we had been hoping to go to Six Flags "Magic Mountain" but unfortunately it's only open on weekends during January and since we're leaving Friday, we got our money back and have to give it a miss : (

So today we're relaxing. We'll go check out Laguna Beach and NewPort Beach. Tomorrow we have all day here too so we may go into Hollywood. Last night we drove down Hollywood Blvd and Mulholland Drive. We tried to find the Hollywood sign but had no luck (we found out later the Hollywood sign isn't lit up at night, duh).

Today was DisneyLand! A life long dream accomplished. I must admit it wasn't as big as I had imagined and the castle was tiny in comparison to pictures I'd seen but then I think I had DisneyWorld Florida in my head (next life long dream to accomplish). It's harder visiting in winter as a few things are often closed for maintence before the summer rush. The bottom half entrance of the castle was covered by a gigantic tarp. DisneyLand, CA was still awesome. The teacup ride made my day and Rowan and I both loved the Indian Jones ride. In the DisneyLand Adventure park, the roller coaster ride was the best. After the uncomfortablness of our killer whale soaking yesterday, we took one look at the drenched people from the river raft ride, and decided to give it a miss. We managed to do both parks today, it seemed to end too quickly but I'm glad as it gives us two extra days to try maybe 6Flags and see a bit of Hollywood. The scariest ride for me was definately the HollyWood Hotel elevator drop. Those rides scare the bejesus out of me so I just held on to Rowans hand REALLY tight. lol Rowan definately loved the rollercoaster the most. Next time we'll try DisneyWorld for sure. LA has been so much fun so far, it's going to be wierd/sad going home.

So a lot has happened since the last post. The morning we were to leave Las Vegas (18th), Rowan had been sick since about 6am and had already thrown up twice before we left for the airport (suspected food poisoning from the very dodgy burger he ate at Carls Jnr). If only we'd rung Delta - our flight had been moved forward so we missed it, and our next flight was at 2pm. So in a corner of the airport we slept/rested for 5hrs (and Rowan was sick for a third time) and at 4pm we finally got to Salt Lake City airport where we had to stopover. Our flight to San Francisco wasn't until 9pm but we ended up changing it to Friday morning and Wendy and Andreas picked us up and we spent the night back in the comfort of the Condo.

On Friday (19th) we flew out of SLC to San Diego and got to our cheap motel-style room at about 10am. Rowan was still feeling a bit quezy so we rested for a while before catching a bus and cab to the Golden Gate Bridge. The taxi driver talked us into going across the bridge for a "better view" where he dropped us off and suggested we walk back since he couldn't take us back (he also charged us for the toll). It took us about half an hour to briskly walk back across the bridge. By this time it was about 3:30pm and we needed to be at pier 33 at 4pm for our Alcatraz tour. Thankfully a cabbie came across the bridge at the perfect time and we made it to pier 33 to catch the boat to Alcatraz. Alcatraz was cool. We took an audio tour around and got to see the cells where the three prisoners who escaped (and were never found) stayed. The tour got us back at our hotel at about 9pm. It was definately time for bed, Rowan was still feeling a little off colour.
We were exhausted!

With only one night in San Francisco we were off to Los Angeles early Saturday morning. Our flight was at 8:50am, and with a $50 overweight luggage charge, we were happy to get off our last american-domestic flight an hour and a half later. We spent our first day in LA picking up our lovely gold rental car, driving 2hrs to San Diego and checking into our first, fully equipped hotel room at The Winners Circle Resort. We stocked up on mildly, healthy food and rested for the remainder of the day.

On the 21st we headed to the world famous San Diego Zoo which was heaps of fun. Rowan definately enjoyed the Sealion show. I loved the Elephants. Today we went to SeaWorld, a 20min drive away. It didn't seem as well built as the SeaWorld on the Gold Coast back home and a few things were closed, but then again it is winter. At the "Shamu" Killer Whale show, Rowan and I (and most of the first 16 rows) got drenched when the three whales pretty much threw litres of water on us. It made my legs sting (from the salt water and cheap jeans) but it was really funny. We watched a Dolphin show too and I got a toy penguin! We also got to feed the Dolphins at SeaWorld - that was the best part I think. I stuck my hand in the mouth of one of them at one point which some woman on a loud speaker than proceeded to inform us we shouldn't do.

Tomorrow.. DisneyLand!!!

Last night in Las Vegas tonight, going to be a quiet one - have to get up at 7am tomorrow to go to the airport for San Francisco. Vegas has been awesome. We've seen so much, all of it amazing. We'd definately come back, maybe try a different hotel. There are so many. The Venetian was our favourite, we had a Gondola ride there which was cool, our drive sand to us which was funny - everyone was watching and taking photos. The Belagio water show rocked, especially since they used Celine Dion's 'My heart will go on' (a fav of mine). I think we're both ready to move on though to San Francisco. Unless you're into gambling, there's not a lot more to see after three days.